“The support is phenomenal – I have never found support as good as it”

–- Richard Berry – OH&S Team Leader

Queensland Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service is a very large government health organisation. Currently they use the Rapid systems for all their building, engineering and maintenance departments at their 3 major hospitals. They also have 11 satellite regional hospitals in the surrounding districts.

“We had a paper-based system that was very laborious and took a lot of time and effort to keep track of. Then we discovered Rapid!”

The OH&S team leader at Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service, Richard Berry, identified that the company needed a contractor management system that could effectively manage their large number of contractors and could replace their existing paper-based system.

Furthermore, given the public nature of hospitals, a solution was needed which could help monitor and enable personnel to sign-in to site. As the Wide Bay Hospital team understood, the healthcare industry is not the same as the construction industry where there is a fence all the way around the site and only one way in!

THE SOLUTION

Rapid Induct and Rapid Contractor Management were implemented so that Wide Bay Hospital could get their contractors to complete the registration process and any necessary inductions online prior to arrival on site. Furthermore, Rapid Permit to Work has simplified the process of the work permit life cycle, with Wide Bay Hospital finding it particularly helpful that only one work permit is required for companies with multiple contractors. The workers then simply arrive on site and sign in electronically using the Rapid Access Systems terminal. Currently they have 3 terminals installed, and contractors, technicians and visitors all sign in on them.

“Having the system store the permits electronically means they can’t go and do any work unless we authorise it; we know what they’re doing, we know where they are, we know what risks are involved, and we can do that all from our phones or our desktops.”

As part of their Rapid Access package, Wide Bay Hospital have also turned on the ‘geofencing’ feature. Once contractors have submitted their work order through Rapid Permit to Work and then had it approved, they are able to go to that site and sign in remotely on their internet-enabled mobile device. This works by establishing a connection with their mobile to determine their proximity to the boundaries of the worksite. They can only sign in once within the perimeter of site.

“We also use the geofencing which has been very good for the companies that it is switched on for. It enables the contractors to sign in themselves and set their time limits for how long they are going to be on site, so it takes the responsibility almost out of our hands and provides them the responsibility.”

THE RESULTS

Richard has found that contractor “compliance has increased at least 100%” at Wide Bay Hospital since implementing the products. When contractor documents are needed, management no longer have to sift through piles of documents to find the right one and then manually contact each contractor asking for the updated version. Instead, the system automatically issues reminders straight to the contractor and prompts them to follow it up. Even the contractors who are not so computer literate are finding the system easy to use.

“We have some contractors who don’t even have computers at home, but with a bit of training and education they like the system now! One of our worst offenders for not doing paperwork is probably one of our best now because the system is easy for him to use.”

If there is ever something Rapid-related that Richard, the Wide Bay Hospital team, or contractors are not sure of, then they can phone the Rapid Global support number to get prompt assistance from the team. This has been very advantageous to those at Wide Bay Hospital.

“One of the best benefits of Rapid Global is your 1800 number… The staff are well trained and they know what they’re doing. If they’re not certain they put you on hold and go and find out, and if it’s still too complicated a technician or one of your guys will call me back within a day. The support is phenomenal – I have never found support as good as it.”

Looking to the future, Wide Bay Hospital is seeking to expand the Rapid systems to encompass the 11 regional hospitals as well. Rapid Access tablets have already been purchased and are close to being installed.

“We envisage that all our hospitals will have Rapid Global portals – we’ve bought the tablets already. And with the new technology of the geofencing, it’s going to be even easier for contractors to access our site, while still remaining compliant with the legislation and our internal policies and procedures.”